Despite the fact that cinema theaters are not allowed in the country, it seems that an active community of movie enthusiasts is flourishing these days in Riyadh, offering several opportunities for people to watch films at special screenings in different parts of the city. If you are in town these days, you might want to check them out. Here’s a short guide for the movies that will be screened starting tomorrow:
The following screenings will be at King Fahd Cultural Center (map) and they are open to women only:
Tuesday, July 8
10:00-12:00 — Four Arabic short films
14:00-16:00 — Four Saudi Short films
When John Burgess published a recent post on Crossroads Arabia titled “Happy Saudis!” I was like “Huh!” The post links to a chart from a study conducted by the World Values Survey based at the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research which states that Saudi Arabia is the 26th happiest country in the world. “It’s widely believed that it’s almost impossible to raise an entire country’s happiness level,” says Ronald Inglehart, political scientist at U-M and the director of the World Values Surveys.
The “surprising finding” has prompted me to think what possibly could be the reasons behind the overwhelmingly positive attitude of my countrymen…
Because human rights are respected and any violation of these rights is not tolerated.
Because the government is transparent and accountable.
Ghazi al-Gosaibi, the Saudi Minister of Labor, is seen here wearing a waiter uniform and serving food at Fuddruckers in Jeddah. The minister criticized those who look down on some jobs saying they do not understand the spirit of Quran.
I never liked the Saudi Arabian Football Federation (SAFF). Not just because of their lame policy of erratically and irrationally sacking one coach after another, but also because the overall performance of our sports teams is simply not comparable to the talent pool we have in this country. I can’t think of any reason for this situation other than mismanagement of resources available at the disposal of this federation.
A long running saga of SAFF involves building a new football stadium in Jeddah. The current Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal Stadium in the coastal city was built in 1980. I could not find any solid numbers regarding the stadium’s capacity, but Google thinks it’s somewhere between 25,000-35,000 spectators, which is considered medium by today’s standards. Jeddah is the home of two major football clubs in Saudi Arabia, Al-Ittihad and Al-Ahli, which means a large number of matches is played on the stadium every year. Add to that poor maintenance and lack of any renovation effort and you get an outdated, ugly mess.
Rumors about the new Jeddah stadium, expected to be named after Crown Prince King Abdullah, have been circulating for, I don’t know, like the past ten years or so. SAFF claim that they have all plans ready for the new stadium but they are waiting for the Ministry of Finance to allocate the needed money for the project. SAFF have been blaming MOF for taking such a long time to approve the budget of the project and allocate the money.
However, if what Arreyadi sports newspaper has reported today is true, then I don’t blame MOF for putting the plans on hold. The newspaper cited sources at MOF saying the delay in approving the plans is based on their conviction that the estimated budget by SAFF is quite exaggerated. SAFF say they will need SR 10 billion to build the new stadium.
For the sake of comparison, the construction cost of the Emirates Stadium, one of Europe’s newest and most expensive football venues, is £430 million (~ SR 3 billion). Why SAFF are asking for this exorbitant amount of money when they actually need just a fraction of it remains a mystery, unless we get a chance to see their plans for the new stadium, which better include some architectural miracles and never-seen-before technologies to justify this huge budget.
I understand that Arreyadi is not very friendly toward SAFF for reasons beyond the scoop of this blog post, but even if their report is not accurate, it nevertheless sheds the light on an important issue that has been long overlooked. Saudi Arabia have not built any new football stadiums since the opening of King Fahad International Stadium in Riyadh in 1989.
It has been two weeks since Matrook al-Faleh was arrested in Riyadh. Despite requests from human rights organizations and the media, the Ministry of Interior is yet to explain why they arrested him.
Activist Fowzan al-Harbi has posted a message to the Saudis for Constitution group this morning saying that a relative of al-Faleh’s has attempted to visit him in al-Hayer Prison yesterday but has been denied. He has been told to go to the ministry, where he asked about the charges against al-Faleh. He has been told the charges are “releasing statements opposing the government and browsing banned websites.”
Jamila al-Uqla, al-Faleh’s wife, has told CNN last week following a visit to her husband in prison that he is in a terrible state. No one has been allowed to visit him since then.
It is truly sad that in a time when our country is trying reform and move towards more openness and freedom that a great intellectual like Matrook al-Faleh is detained for simply practicing his right of free speech by highlighting the miserable state of prisons; in a time when our King says even his majesty is not above criticism, people are being arrested for merely speaking their minds. It pains me to no end that as much as some of us love this country, they keep hurting those who love it the most. They keep on trying to dash our hopes without realizing that they can’t kill the future; they are just delaying the inevitable
Guest blogger Lubna Hussain is currently in France enjoying the 61st Annual Cannes Film Festival. Meanwhile, the first film festival in Saudi Arabia started last Tuesday in Dammam. The Associated Press reports, “It’s a far cry from the glamour of Cannes: No celebrities strutting their stuff; an all-male audience drinking coffee and juice rather than champagne; and if any female spectators showed up - well, no one knew. They came in through a back entrance into a separate hall, off-limits to the male organizers.”
Still, I think it is good to see the event takes place. I really wanted to attend some of the films there over the weekend, but unfortunately I’m stuck here in Riyadh for another week or so. The AP report carried this paragraph that made me feel like laughing and crying at the same time:
Information Minister Eyad Madani attended the festival Tuesday, giving the competition an unequivocal stamp of official approval. “There’s a debate over the issue of cinema and movies, and it’s a debate that should continue,” said Madani in a brief speech.
What debate the minister is talking about? The stupid debate over opening up cinema theaters in the country, like the debate over women’s driving, has gone way longer than it should. The government should step up and show its citizens and the world that they are not to be held back by a group of backward lunatics who, if it was up to them, would like to take us back to the Middle Ages. It is about time.
Matrook Al-Faleh, political science professor at KSU, has been arrested on Monday. Al-Faleh went to work yesterday morning but did not return home. His family have found his car in the university parking lot but could not locate him or contact him on his mobile phone. Activist Fowzan Al-Harbi confirmed the arrest but said it is still unknown why Al-Faleh was arrested. It is expected, though, that the arrest is related to his latest statement regarding the situation in Buraida General Prison where fellow activists Abdullah Al-Hamed and his brother Eisa are jailed. Al-Faleh has released a long statement on Saturday saying the situation in prison show extreme violations of human right. The statement also expressed concern about the deteriorating health of Al-Hamed brothers who have started a hunger strike last week. The statement asked King Abdullah to interfere to stop the violations, and appealed to human rights organizations to support the jailed activists.
My friend and fellow blogger Hadeel al-Hodaif has passed away. About three weeks ago, she has suddenly gone into a coma just two days after her 25th birthday. My heartfelt condolences to her family.
May Allah bless her soul in heavenly peace.
P.S. Because she always asked me to write in Arabic, here’s my good-bye.
Human Rights Watch has urged courts in Jeddah to dismiss a case against Rai’f Badawi, founder of Saudi Liberals forums. On May 5, the prosecutor charged Badawi with “setting up an electronic site that insults Islam,” and referred the case to court, asking for a five-year prison sentence and a 3 million riyal fine.
Badawi no longer owns or controls the website. After unknown hackers, who probably think they were doing some sort of electronic jihad, attacked the website several times and threatened him and his family, he sold the website and fled the country two weeks ago. A new owner announced a while ago that he took over the website, which has been offline for more than a week now.
It is understood that Badawi will be tried according to the E-Crimes Act that has been issued in March 2007. The act, which can be found here (Arabic PDF), contains some laws that seem to target free speech such as Article 6 which incriminates “producing content which violates general order, religious values, public morals or sanctity of private life, or preparing it, or sending it, or storing it via the network or a computer.”
The questions is: who defines and specifies what are those religious values and what are those public morals? I don’t know if this act has been approved by the Shoura Council or not, because I think it is unacceptable for the Council to approve such act that contains these vague laws and articles which contradicts international conventions and accords on which Saudi Arabia is a signatory.
On a related note, Amnesty International are appealing for Muhammad Ali Abu Raziza, a psychology professor at the University of Um al-Qura, who has been sentenced to 150 lashes and eight months’ imprisonment for meeting a woman in a coffee shop. There has been a lot of controversy surrounding this case and the reports on it in the local press has been full of contradictions. Therefor, I can’t make up my mind on who is at fault here.
However, I think the Commission should seriously reconsider how to define and deal with this whole “khulwa” thing. When a man and a woman meet in a public place like a cafe, a restaurant, or in the street where they are surrounded by people and others can see them, does it constitute a khulwa? I doubt that they will ever think this through but I guess it’s worth asking anyway.
Al-Lahem’s name has become associated with a series of high-profile cases in the country where he volunteered to defend people against the government and the official religious establishment. He has been a vocal critic to the judicial system and this has gained him many enemies among the conservatives.
He certainly deserves to be awarded, but here comes the sad part: he will not be able to receive the award in person during a conference held in Vienna in July unless a four-year-old travel ban imposed on him by the authorities here is lifted.
Time magazine has come out with its annual list of the 100 Most Influential People in the World, and there are two Saudis on the list: Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, the country’s richest man; and Ali al-Naimi, the the Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources. Can you think of other Saudis who should be on the list?
Old timers on this blog probably know that I’m a big fan of Lubna Hussain, and they probably remember how I used to link to her articles in Arab News frequently here. Unfortunately, Lubna stopped contributing regularly to Arab News sometime ago. Earlier this week, I had the pleasure to meet Lubna for the first time, and I told her that I miss her potent and strong articles. She asked me if she can write in my blog, and I, surprised by her kind gesture, immediately said: “yes, that would be great!”
Lubna Hussain currently runs NBC Universal Riyadh bureau, and she is the host of Bridges, a weekly political talk show that airs every Saturday on Channel 2 of Saudi TV. I’m extremely honored to have her as the first guest blogger on Saudi Jeans and looking forward to read her posts here.
I woke up around 5:30 this morning on the beeping of my iPhone which received a short message from the wife of my friend and fellow blogger Fouad al-Farhan telling me that Fouad has been released and that he is back home with his family now. That’s great news and this is just how I wanted to start my morning!
The good news made me less nervous and more relaxed about giving my presentation today. I’m doing some final revision now and should be standing on the stage in the main room at the Hilton Hall to speak in a couple of hours.
When the organizers of the L&T Symposium asked me few months ago who they should invite to speak about blogging in Saudi Arabia, Hadeel was on top of the list that I recommended. It would be hard for me to speak on the stage knowing that she is supposed to be there with me, but I will keep her in my thoughts and prayers.
I fly to Jeddah in a few hours. The symposium won’t kick off till Saturday, but I thought I would arrive a bit earlier to hang out with my friends and meet some people. I found out that fellow blogger Mohammed Milyani will also be speaking at the event but in a different session.
The symposium blog confirmed yesterday that Queen Rania of Jordan will be the opening night keynote speaker. If you want to follow the event keep an eye on their blog and this page. The sessions will be broadcasted live on ART (probably the open-to-air Ein channel), and it will also be webcast courtesy of MeduNet.
I’m not sure how often I will be able to update the blog while I’m in Jeddah but you can always check out my Twitter page to read some fresh bits and pieces.
Dr. Mohammed al-Hodaif, father of fellow blogger Hadeel, said earlier today that his daughter was found lying in her bed and she has gone into a coma. Hadeel has just celebrated her 25th birthday two days ago and I have been looking forward to meet her in Jeddah where we are scheduled to speak in a discussion panel at the L&T Symposium next Saturday. She is in the ICU now and her father said she is in a critical state. Please pray for her. الله يشفيها ويقومها بالسلامة يا رب
Many people in the KSU community have been excited about appointing Abdullah al-Othman as a new rector. Although I despised all the ass-kissing published in the university newsletter after he took the helm at Saudi Arabia’s oldest university, I must give the man some credit for many good initiatives that he’s been pushing. One of the these initiatives is opening the campus for new voices rarely heard around here.
As part of their regular weekly events, the student affairs deanship at KSU will host tomorrow a discussion panel featuring Mufleh al-Qahtani and Saleh al-Khathlan from the National Society for Human Rights. It should be a good chance to raise awareness among ignorant students — if they show up, that is — and also talk about the current state of human rights conditions in the country.
Unfortunately, I have a practical exam at the same time so I won’t be able to attend, but I will try to finish early and catch what’s left by the time I’m done with my exam.
This is an open event, so if you are interested I highly encourage you to come. Girls are out of luck because AFAIK this event won’t be transmitted to the girls’ campus in Olaysha. Unless, of course, you have the ovaries to come to the boys’ campus and try to find a seat there. A few female journalists were allowed to attend Prince Turki al-Faisal lecture last month at Hamad al-Jassir auditorium.
What: Human Right — Between Reality and Ambition Who: Mufleh al-Qahtani, VP of NSHR; Saleh al-Khathlan, member of NSHR When: Monday, April 21, 2008. 12:30 PM Where: Building No.7, Auditorium 7A, opposite to the College of Arts
I stayed in Jeddah for a week in 2006, and I loved it. The visit was to meet friends and fellow bloggers and also to see the city for the first time as I never been there before. I had a blast, and I’ve been seriously thinking about moving to Jeddah after I finish school here in Riyadh.
I will visit Jeddah again this week for a few days to participate in a conference. I was invited by Effat College to speak about blogging in the Kingdom at the 6th Annual Learning and Technology Symposium that will be held on April 26-27. As always, I’m lucky to have the company of great people who will share the stage with me. This time I’m honored to be joined by fellow blogger Hadeel al-Hodaif and videoblogger Baba Ali.
However, it saddens me that I won’t be able to see my friend Fouad when I visit his hometown. Last time I was there he took me to his favorite places in town and we had a lot of fun. I received the invitation and agreed to participate just a few days before he was arrested.
During the last few weeks I was hoping that he would be released before I come to Jeddah but unfortunately not much has happened since then. I thought about withdrawing because it will be painful for me to visit Jeddah again knowing I won’t see him, but then I decided it was better to go and talk about his case instead of staying home.
It is too late for you to register for the conference now, but if you happen to be a lady then you might be interested in another event hosted by Effat College this week. Head Over Heels in Saudi Arabia is a play that touches topics concerning Saudi women and addresses many questions raised about them. The performance is open for ladies only, and the ticket price is SR 100. For more information, please call 0530899829 or 026364300 ext. 1316 or ext. 5001. (Hat tip to fellow Jeddawiah blogger Glow!)
I don’t care if Mohammed al-Mussaed, aka Green Tea, and his likes call me a rafidi because the opinion of extremists is not of value to me. Now of course people like him would argue that “rafidi” is not meant as a sectarian slur but merely a description, but to me as well as many others this term has very negative connotations because it has been used for a very long time to degrade the group of Muslims to which I belong. But as I said, I could not care less.
What I care about, though, is how the government treat those so-called “rafida.” I expect our government to treat all citizens with justice and equality. This is what King Abdullah promised this nation, “a land of justice and moderation far removed from hatred and extremism.” And I still vividly remember his first speech as a King when he vowed justice for all.
When I was a young student, I was taught in school that all citizens of Saudi Arabia are Muslims, period. That’s why none of the official forms and papers used for Saudis here contain an item for religion. If you are a Saudi, you are automatically, er naturally, a Muslim. Or at least this is what I thought until I stumbled upon this form:
This form bears the logo of the Ministry of Health and it is used by the directorate of health affairs in Ahssa for those who apply for a job at government’s hospitals. The headline in this form clearly states: “Form for Saudis.” However, a few lines underneath that title there is a space where applicants are required to provide their religion and sect. So what’s going on here? Is this form only used in Ahssa or is it used throughout the Kingdom? I don’t know, but I can confirm that this form is not fake because I personally know someone who had to fill it when he applied for a job.
I have heard many people talk about sectarian discrimination at the healthcare sector in my hometown of Ahssa, but as a good citizen I always choose to ignore them and believe the government who insist that they don’t discriminate on sectarian basis. I would like to think that there no such thing as institutionalized discrimination here, but I think there are some individuals who use their power to pass discriminatory practices.
In this era of sectarian strife that is taking the region, it is high time for our nation to eliminate all practices conveying prejudices and for the government to take strong measures to stop discrimination on all levels. It is only with unity and solidarity that we are able to stand and overcome the challenges facing our country. Now let’s put the words into action.
Schism, fellow blogger Raed al-Saeed’s response to Geert Wilders’s Fitna has been making the rounds online with more than 130,000 views on YouTube and more than 1500 comments. I think I agree with Prometheus that the idea is good but the execution leaves much to be desired. Nevertheless, kudos to Raed for demonstrating how you can be positive and react rationally to opposing views instead of using violence and threats.
UPDATE: Al-Watan daily came out yesterday with a ridiculous front page thing about the short film describing it as “provoking to Christians, rejected by Muslim.” They say any response to attacks on Islam should come from the so-called specialists: Sharia scholars blah blah blah. Obviously, terms like citizen journalism or user-generated content are so alien to the dead tree folks. They kept referring to Raed as “someone who claims to be Saudi” and none of those idiots bothered to check his blog or contact him despite the fact that his blog URL is clearly shown in the film, which means that they probably didn’t even watch the film in the first place. There are more stupidity in the article but I don’t have time for this crap.
In my post last February on women’s employment I asked if whether we were moving towards more regulation or more segregation. According to a directive issued last week by Prince Khaled al-Faisal, Governor of Mecca, I guess regulation it is.
The directive, which was published in local media last Wednesday, is based on a letter sent by Labor Minister Ghazi al-Gosaibi who emphasized that the new labor law has deleted the clause banning women from working in mixed workplaces, and replaced it with a new clause that applies to both genders stating that “both the employer and employee must adhere to the law in conformity with Sharia.”
Now this last statement may sound vague and ill-defined, but it is still worthy of attention because the letter also affirmed that the Ministry of Labor is the government’s body responsible for regulating women’s working and that any involvement by other government’s bodies is unacceptable, in what seems to be a hint to the Commission and their sympathizers who keep nosing into these issues.
However, and as we have previously seen many times in the magic kingdom, writing laws is one thing and implementing them is quite another, especially when you don’t have an elected parliament to monitor the performance of government and question them when they fail to achieve their announced goals.
It was Ghazi al-Gosaibi who has tried three years ago to make working in women’s shops limited to Saudi women before he had to back down after fierce opposition by conservatives. What is different this time, though, is that he is not fighting alone. The support of Khaled al-Faisal, a figure many conservatives hate as much as they hate al-Gosaibi, could be the push the government need to put the laws in effect. It remains to be seen how crucial is this support will be.
UPDATE: In his column in Al Hayat today Abdul-Aziz al-Suwaid makes a good point about the vagueness of the law, asking MOL to define clear guidelines to protect women should they come under harassment. I totally agree.
Qaym is a website for user-generated restaurant reviews based on social rating. The idea behind it may sound simple, but the execution is excellent and the result is great. My friend and fellow blogger Jihad al-Ammar began working on this project last year, and I was one of the lucky beta testers who had to use it during the past 9 months. This week Jihad is opening the website to the public. If you can read Arabic, give it a look and I think you will be impressed.
I have 5 invites to give away. If you are interested, just leave your email in the comments and you shall receive one shortly.
I’ve run out of invites. If you would like one let me know, I will ask Jihad if I can get more.
UPDATE: I didn’t even need to ask! Jihad has given me 10 more invites to give away. Leave a comment here if you want one of those.
Someone at CITC has decided to go on a blocking spree this morning and went to ban access to the alfarhan.org, freefouad.com and Horyiat blog. After detaining Fouad Al Farhan for more than 100 days because he spoke his mind, now they are trying to stop people from reading his ideas. Pathetic.
The authorities are yet to reveal the reasons for the detention, and a spokesman for MOI told CNN Arabic last week there was on update on the case. The blockage is indicative of the mentality behind the detention and it also a sign that it will last even longer.
They are wrong if they think the blockage will stop people from getting information about this case and all violations on human rights here. They are wrong if they think the blockage will stop us from raising Fouad’s issue over and over again until he is free and back to his family and friends. We know how to get around your stupid censorship, and if you block two or three blogs we can launch hundreds of new blogs.
P.S. You can still follow the Free Fouad campaign here: English, Arabic.
A boy and a girl have died in a horrific car accident after being chased by a patrol that belongs to the Commission for Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice in the northern city of Tabuk. In the details, the Toyota Camry of the boy was completely crushed under a large truck on Medina-Tabuk Rd during his attempt to escape from the Commission’s patrol.
This tragic incident is the latest in a series of highly publicized cases involving the Commission during the past two years that resulted in the death of citizens, such as the case of Salman Al Huraisi who died during a raid on his house in Riyadh last year as well as the case of Saud Al Balawi who died in the Commission center in Tabuk after he was arrested for giving a ride to an unrelated old woman.
I don’t want to talk about the apparent recklessness and brutality in these cases. I don’t want to talk about the number of violations on local laws and basic human rights committed in these cases. Because I will be stating the obvious. Instead, I just want to say a few words about another aspect here, which is the absence of any sign of respect to humanity.
I think that one the most important things these stories show is the blatant disregard for human life and dignity. Even if the Commission members were acting within their legal rights, the outcomes of their actions have been disastrous. Yet, none of these incidents has seen the Commission admit that any mistakes have been made or apologize to the families of those who died, directly or indirectly, on the hands of the Commission members.
This holier than though attitude is disgusting and is incompatible with the message the Commission try to promote of guarding Islamic values and protecting morality in public. How can they make such claim when they show absolute disrespect to the sanctity of human life?
Abdul-Rahman al-Barrak is a cleric who can be described as “extreme” but that I guess would be a nice way to put it. Earlier this week he released a fatwa against two columnists in Al Riyadh newspaper saying they should be tried for apostasy for their “heretical articles” and put to death if they don’t repent. Abullah bin Bejad and Yousef Abal-Khail, the two writers, are understandably terrified. Bin Bejad asked the government to protect him, and Abal-Khail said if this was allowed to pass, “it will be chaos.”
This incident is disturbing and sickening, but it is nothing new for extremists in this country to try to intimidate and terrorize those who have different views of religion, society or any other matter in life. They have done it in the past with intellectuals like Turky Al Hamad and others, and luckily no one got killed, at least till now.
However, what is more worrying to me is the fact that the likes of Abdul-Rahman al-Barrak and Nasser al-Omar are still able to get away with fatawa like this one. Al-Barrak in his most recent fatwa said the government should hold the newspapers and publishers to account, when in fact he is the one whom the government should hold to account for his calls to hate and violence.
Moreover, I believe that the official religious establishment, as the highest religious authority in the country, should take a clear position on this issue, and if they are not willing to do that because, as I may expect, some of them might agree with the fatwa, those who belong to the establishment and disagree with the fatwa should denounce and reject it.
I can imagine that neither the government nor the official religious establishment would speak out on this issue, but if they fail to address this properly then they should stop whining about extremism and how terrorists are simply a “misguided group.” It is this kind of dangerous messages that feed extremism and donate fuel to terrorists to continue their lethal destructive acts. Keeping silent and later blaming “external influences” for what happens here will be a hard sell, and hey, I got some news for you, we are not stupid. No more.
After my pastexperiences at Riyadh International Book Fair, and considering that I have recently visited Beirut and Cairo, you can expect that I’m not so enthusiastic about our annual cultural bonanza this year.
The truth is, organizing this event for the first time in 2006 was a bold move by the Ministry of Information (MOI) and was groundbreaking on some levels: temporary amnesty on banned books, interesting speakers and heated debates about pressing issues at the other activities accompanying the fair.
Unfortunately, it did not last long. MOI have been obviously intimidated by the aggressive reaction of the conservatives and decided to opt for the path of least resistance: to avoid provoking the anger of conservatives (who are easily provoked by many, many things, btw) they chose to organize an ordinary book fair with conformist speakers discussing noncontroversial topics. Actually, I have read that some people this year were cruising the fair collecting books they don’t like in trolleys!
I am disappointed to see MOI intimidated this way because I thought they were up to something really good. But my lack of enthusiasm should not stop you from paying a visit to the big show. I think it is still a good chance for Saudis to get exposed to this wide spectrum of ideas offered by thousands of books at one place.
Although I wasn’t planning to buy any books, I ended up with a few good ones. As usual, Lebanese publishing houses have many interesting titles to offer, and you may also want to stop at the booth of the National Society for Human Rights and grab a copy of their excellent first report on the state of human rights in the Kingdom.
The Riyadh International Book Fair is open until Friday, March 14, at the Riyadh International Exhibition Center in Morouj Dist. up north the city. Parking spaces of the Center are reserved for VIP’s so I recommend you use the HyperPanda/Azizia Mall parking lot next to the Center. Consult this schedule to before going: the fair is open at different times for professionals and general audience men and families, and believe me you don’t to go at the wrong time.
Detained Saudi blogger Fouad al-Farhan has been allowed to make a phone call to his wife yesterday, FreeFouad.com reported. His wife said Fouad told her that he is in a good shape and his morale is high. He said he is hoping that authorities would soon allow others to visit him in jail. The website also said that Fouad would like to thank all those who supported him and his family during these tough times.
A senior member of the royal family said Monday that Saudi diplomacy has many shortcoming. Prince Turky Al Faisal, head of King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies, was giving a lecture on the history of Saudi diplomacy at King Saud University. The former Chief of Intelligence and ambassador to the UK and the US added, “but we have no right to blame others just to find excuses for our problems.”
The lecture was initially announced earlier this week under a different title: “The Saudi-US Relations,” but shortly after Turky Al Faisal took his seat at the podium he said he decided to change the focus of the lecture to Saudi diplomacy. The lecture has drawn a large audience from teachers and students, and much to my dismay, some zealots as well. There were also a lot of journalists, but I have to say that I really felt sorry for them because the lecture was boring, and btw this is something none of these journalists would dare to say when they report on the event for their newspapers
I think the lecture would have been more interesting if the speaker went into some detail and gave us some examples of Saudi diplomacy in action in recent history, but instead he went back to the days of the Prophet (PBUH) telling us stories that we all know by heart from our school days. I also wanted to hear him taking about his experience doing “public diplomacy” when he was at the States. However, the Q&A session following the lecture was more interesting, even when Prince Turky tried to answer diplomatically and avoid controversy or giving bold statements.
When asked about the failure of Saudi diplomacy to use financial support in order to achieve political goals, Al Faisal admitted that connecting financial support to certain policies is usually not successful. He also said he was surprised when some countries which the Kingdom has helped have turned against us in the Gulf War. But what I really wanted to hear, though, is how does he evaluate the Saudi support of the Afghani jihad against the Soviets. Was that also a failure?
True to Saudi fashion, female teachers and students followed the lecture on TV screens from the comfort of their campus in Olaysha at the other end of the city. Things turned depressingly comical when it was time for them to ask questions due to technical glitches with the sound system.
A few female journalists physically attended the lecture, and they were seated in a corner at the upper deck of the auditorium. The only female journalist who had a chance to ask a question said they were told to leave but they insisted on staying, and she asked Prince Turky what to expect from report that will follow the visit of Yakin Ertürk, the special rapporteur of the United Nations Human Rights Council on Violence Against Women.
Al Faisal admitted that women’s rights are being violated “in the government’s bureaucracy and in the social arena.” He said the government is trying to promote women’s rights but described them as social matters related to the progress of society. Princey Turky said he sees no problem in women’s working as diplomats, and he thinks that they will excel and give a good image for the country. Finishing his remarks, he said he is looking forward to the day when there is no discrimination or injustices against women. “As men, we should put women above our heads.”
I’m flying to Cairo this Tuesday to participate at a workshop organized by the Arab Network for Human Rights Information aka HRinfo.net, which is blocked in Saudi Arabia btw. The two-day workshop will focus on human rights and the internet — how activists can use the net to promote human rights and how the net can help the activists to do a better job.
As I have to be back right away for school, I won’t have much free time to spend in Cairo, but any pointers on what I should do and what I should see are highly appreciated. I’m thinking about having a meet up with bloggers so if you are interested please let me know.
As if Yakin Ertürk, the special rapporteur of the United Nations Human Rights Council on Violence Against Women, needed more issues to talk about during her 10-day visit to the Kingdom, the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice have decided to give her one more reason to tell us how we should treat our women (and men for that matter), and gosh how they hate it when they do that.
This sorry incident involving a Saudi-American businesswoman arrested in Riyadh for sitting in a Starbucks coffee shop with an unrelated man occurred on the same day Ertürk arrived to meet government officials, members of the Shoura Council and academics as well as individual victims of violence against women. She will subsequently report her findings to the UN Human Rights Council.
I’m glad that the National Society for Human Rights (NSHR) have decided to speak out and stand up for the woman. They described the manner in which she was strip-searched in prison as “inhuman,” but to me the whole ordeal from the moment she was arrested is inhuman.
After recounting the outrageous violations committed by the Commission member against the women, an NSHR official said they will raise the issue with the Governorate of Riyadh. Moreover, the official said that they will ask the governorate that the woman be compensated for the damages she sustained.
However, based on past experiences with incidents involving the Commission, I think it is very unlikely that the governorate will hold them accountable for their misbehavior. Actually, one of the main problems with the Commission is the magnitude of power given to them in Riyadh that allow them to violate basic human rights and invade people’s privacy. Compare the situation in the capital to that in Jeddah and you will see what I mean. I think we are going to hear the same old rhetoric about how the Commission is not responsible for the mistakes its members make even if it resulted in the death of citizens.
I have said it many times before and I will say it again: until the government is serious about setting clear guidelines on what this Commission can and can’t do, we will continue to hear about atrocities like this one. In the past, many things like these used to pass unnoticed because people were too afraid to speak out against them, but times have changed and it is up to the people now to stand up for their rights.
This is the post I wanted to use for my first participation in the Fouad’s Week event, but unfortunately I don’t have time to translate it now. So I will repost these quotes that I translated last month:
It is only the feebleminded who would use guns and violence to deliver his message.
We desperately need a time of calmness and reconciliation between the different leaderships in our society: Islamists, liberals and the government.
If you were a free citizen and think you have the right speak your mind on what is happening in our country and have something to say, be brave and say it in your real name.
In Saudi Arabia, there is no guarantee that you won’t be arrested because of your frankness and speaking your mind on your blog. But there is also no guarantee when you hide and write in internet forums using a pseudonym.
My advice to anyone that cares about common interest and is angry over what is happening in our country and keeps on writing at internet forums using a pseudonym is to join the blogging world and write using his real name to contribute positively in building the Saudi blogosphere.
Guest blogger 
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